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Emergency Alert Australia
Emergency Alert Australia is an emergency communications scheme set up by the Australian Commonwealth Government in response to the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009, utilizing telecommunications systems as another form of alert for citizens. The system sends both SMS messages and pre-recorded sound messages with information regarding the alert which can be statewide, or reduced to a small location. Standard Emergency Warning Signal The Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) is a warning siren used in Australia to alert the public of danger. The siren is played over radio, television or public address systems in public places to warn of bushfire, flood, cyclone, tsunami, earthquakeor terrorist attack. The SEWS tone has also been adopted for use in the new Emergency Alert Australia system which sends standard text messages from the phone number 0444 444 444 which has information about a potential emergency, and a phone call to landlines which starts with the SEWS tone with the words "Emergency! Emergency!" followed by a message regarding the threat and a phone number and/or website with more information. The National Alert System has been tested by the Country Fire Service in Kangaroo Island, South Australia and has also been tested by other agencies. also The SEWS was developed by the Bureau of Meteorology in the 1970s for tropical cyclone warnings. It was adopted as a national emergency warning signal on 21 May 1995 Landline message The landline telephone message starts off with the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) followed by the words "Emergency! Emergency!" which is then followed by a verbal alert in English regarding the type of threat, the appropriate action and a telephone number or website where more information can be found. SMS Message The SMS message is similar to the Landline message but is written in English text rather than a verbal warning. SEWS is not used for this type of message but still contains information about the type of threat, appropriate action and a telephone number or website where more information can be found. The originating number is 0444 444 444 which can only send out messages, it cannot receive messages or calls. This is the same number that is used for the landline message if Caller ID is used on the particular phone, and it is possible to block these alerts by adding this number to the "blocked callers" list. The Government coordinates the identification of emergency and response. Having developed an appropriate message and area of interest, they then provide a suitable message and area of land within which to send to each mobile phone network operator who then in turn identify all subscribers within that area using the mobile network and then send the message as an SMS using the originating number above. No subscriber information is shared between the operators, and no subscriber information is shared with the Government. See the official EA website FAQ for more detailed information. In January 2019, the Emergency Alert Australia system was hacked and a small proportion of the mobile numbers (MSISDN) were stolen out off the Emergency Alert database and thousands received a hacked SMS notification about their personal data Mocks Category:General Information Category:Real World Information